Chronology of bark beetles (Coleoptera : Scolytidae) attacks on the cedar,Cedrus atlantica (Pinaceae), in the Middle-Atlas (Morocco)

The Cedar of Atlas is an endemic species of North Africa. Owing to its nume rous qualities, it is considered as a promising forest tree in the Mediterr anean countries were it was largely introduced since the last century. As o ther coniferous trees in Europe, the cedar suffers dramatic damages from xy lophagous insects (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) in the Atlasian mountains. Since the xylophagous species of cedar were little known in Morocco, they were s tudied in the Middle Atlas between 1994 and 1998, using tree traps and labo ratory rearing. Results presented in this paper concern the attack chronolo gy of the Scolytidae species and the influence on their activity of the cut ting down date and the exposition duration of the tree traps.